When Deputy Gregory Barnes found that someone had ditched a boat in an undeveloped lot in Florida, he did some detectin' online using Google Earth:

Marc Ward, a spokesman for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, said Barnes discovered the abandoned 18-foot 1986 Four Winns 190 Horizon on Feb. 23. The vehicle identification number and registration had been removed, so the deputy took his investigation online.

"He used Google Earth to look around the surrounding area," Ward said. "He was looking for anyone who had that boat at the time the satellite image was taken." [...]

Barnes saw the fuzzy image of the boat at [Dwight] Foster's home. The undeveloped subdivision is nearby.